Bregmaceros mcclellandi
No common name
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GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Gadiformes (Cod, Hakes and others)
Bregmacerotidae (Codlets)
Bregmaceros
Bregmaceros mcclellandi
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Moderately slender and compressed posteriorly, with relatively long and symmetrical second dorsal and anal fins. Snout is moderately blunt. Jaws are slightly oblique, terminal, and extend beyond anterior margin of pupil. Teeth are minute and occur in jaws and vomer. Head length is 14.5% to 16.4%, predorsal length is 35.7% to 41.7%, preanal length is 33.3% to 35.7%, and body depth is 11.9% to 16.4% of SL. Eye diameter is 0.7 to 1 times snout length and 0.5 to 0.9 times interorbital length. Head length is 2.4 to 4.8 times interorbital width. Second dorsal fin has 57 to 65 rays, and anal fin has 58 to 69 rays. Caudal fin is emarginate. Myomeres number 52 to 59, and vertebrae number 58.
Color is brown, slightly darker dorsally than ventrally. Fins are pigmented except for anal fin.
Distribution
Cape Cod to northern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate seas, near the surface to 500 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 96 mm TL
If taxonomy is correct, both onshore in brackish water and oceanic. According to larval survey, occurrence in the tropics is wide (Ref. 9902, 45075). Feed on planktonic crustaceans. Also caught with bagnets (Ref. 2872).
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: High (Assuming tm=1).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial.
References
D'Ancona and Cavinato 1965
Belianina 1980
Milliken and Houde 1984
Saksena and Richards 1986
Cohen, D.M., T. Inada, T. Iwamoto and N. Scialabba (1990) FAO species catalogue. Vol. 10. Gadiform fishes of the world (Order Gadiformes). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of cods, hakes, grenadiers and other gadiform fishes known to date. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(10). Rome: FAO. 442 p.
Cohen, D.M. (1990) Bregmacerotidae. p. 524-525. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 2.
Weitkamp, D.E. and R.D. Sullivan (2003) Gas bubble disease in resident fish of the lower Clark Fork River. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 132(5):865-876.
Shen, S.C. (1960) Bregmaceros lanceolatus and Bregmaceros pescadorus, two new species of dwarf fishes from southern Taiwan and Pescadore Islands. Q. J. Taiwan Mus. 13 (1-2):67-74.
Reghu, R., K. Balachandran, N.G. Menon, E. Vivekanandan, S.K. Chakraborty and P. Devadoss (1996) Distribution, abundance and biology of unicorn cod, Bregmaceros mcclellandi in the deep scattering layers of Indian Exclusive Economic Zone. p. 411-418. In V.K. Pillai, S.A.H. Abidi, V. Ravindran, K.K. Balachnadran, and V.V. Agadi (eds.) Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Scientific Results of Forv-Sagar-Sampada. Dept. of Ocean Development, New Delhi, India.
Torii, A., A.S. Harold, T. Ozawa and Y. Iwatsuki (2003) Redescription of Bregmaceros mcclellandi Thompson, 1840 (Gadiformes: Bermacerotidae). Ichthyol. Res. 50(2):129-139.
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